February 2021
NCAS Public Lecture Series
Remembering
Randi
YouTube Live Event with Q and A
Presented
by Banachek
Magician / Mentalist / President, James Randi Educational Foundation
Saturday, February 13, 2:30pm US/Eastern (UTC-05:00)
(NOTE SPECIAL TIME)
NCASVideo YouTube Channel:
https://youtu.be/XqeL30DyCv4
For more information, call the NCAS Skeptic Line at
240-670-NCAS (6227).
ncas@ncas.org
Magician / mentalist Banachek
will recall his lifetime relationship in the skeptical movement with James
Randi: how they met, Project Alpha, the Peter Popoff exposé, the Million Dollar
Challenge and everything in between. Stories that have never been told before
will be revealed.
Banachek was born in England in 1960 and moved to the United
States in 1976. It was at the end of that same year he picked up a worn copy of
James Randi's book, The Truth About Uri Geller. This was the book
that changed Banachek's life. This book gave Banachek the tools to construct
his own versions of metal bending and his life was never the same.
In what became known as Project Alpha, Banachek went on to
fool scientists at the prestigious Washington University in St Louis, Missouri.
He convinced them that he could bend metal with his mind, only to explain later
that despite the half a million-dollar grant from McDonnell Douglas, he was
using trickery the entire time, giving Banachek the unique title as "The
man who fooled the scientists." Since that time, Banachek has gone on to
expose not only other psychic claims but also hoaxes such as his
well-documented exposé of the evangelist Peter Popoff.
Banachek has performed on over 50 major magic TV shows, from CNN Live to NBC's Today
show, and had hundreds of smaller appearances on TV shows the world over. He
has appeared in almost every major magazine and newspaper from the New York
Times to the National Enquirer. He has been awarded the Psychic
Entertainers Association's Creativity in Mentalism award and is sought out as a
consultant by most major magicians and mentalists in the USA and abroad,
including David Copperfield, Penn & Teller, Criss Angel and David Blaine.
There will be an online question-and-answer segment after
the presentation.
https://www.ncas.org/2021/01/february-13-remembering-randi.html
How to Watch and Participate in this Online Event:
1) Use a supported browser... https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers
2) Use the link https://youtu.be/XqeL30DyCv4
. If typing the link, use "0" (zero).
3) The live stream begins shortly before 2:30pm
US/Eastern (UTC-05:00) on Saturday, February 13, 2021.
4) To post questions, you must be signed in to a Google
account.
5) Post your questions in the chat window to the right of
the video player when the live stream is active.
6) Click into where it says "Say something..." and
begin typing (up to 200 characters). Then click the send icon .
Along with your question, please post what city or town
you're in.
Message to Current and Prospective NCAS Members
In response to the economic hardship and other uncertainties
that our members may be facing, NCAS has automatically extended by one year all
memberships that expire in 2020 or later. Payment will be accepted for
new memberships as well as renewals for 2019 and before: new and renewed will
have a bonus year added. Each life member may sponsor a new one-year
membership at no charge. (Double life memberships may sponsor two.)
Send your sponsored member's name and contact information to ncas@ncas.org.
This offer will continue until further notice.
Michael E. Mann on Skeptical Inquirer Presents
Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric
Science at Penn State, will appear on the next Skeptical Inquirer Presents
live online event, Thursday, February 18 at 7 PM ET, to discuss his new book, The
New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y_ko7VfEgQ
. Free registration is required: https://centerforinquiry.org/news/winning-the-climate-war-michael-mann-on-skeptical-inquirer-presents-feb-18/
February PhACT Lecture
Our skeptical neighbors to the north, the Philadelphia
Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT), will host their next online event on
Saturday, February 20 at 2 PM ET. Speaker Michael Marshall (Project
Director of the Good Thinking Society, Vice President of the Merseyside
Skeptics Society, and host of the Be Reasonable podcast) will discuss
his experiences of the Flat Earth movement, take a look at the leaders and some
of their reasoning, and report back from the weekend he spent at the UK's
first-ever Flat Earth convention. Details at http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.
March NCAS Lecture
Alan Levinovitz, Associate Professor of Religion at James Madison
University, will discuss his book, Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness
Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science, which examines the
meaning of "natural" and argues that modern Western culture has
divinized nature. Saturday, March 13 at 1:30 PM ET, live on the NCASVideo
YouTube channel.
AmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are supporting NCAS!
When holiday shopping at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the same low prices,
vast selection, and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the
added bonus that a portion of the purchase price (0.5%) goes to NCAS! It's
simple and automatic, and it doesn't cost you anything!
AmazonSmile's disbursements to NCAS in the third quarter of 2020 came to
$24.92, meaning that $5000 of purchases were designated in support of
NCAS. (As an example of how NCAS can put that money to good use, it's
enough to cover 75 minutes of a Montgomery County lecture room rental.)
Thanks again to our members who have chosen to support NCAS!
For more information:
https://smile.amazon.com/about
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-launches-amazonsmile-simple-automatic-way-customers
Shadow Light
Some members and contacts of NCAS receive a postal notification of this and
every new monthly Shadow of a Doubt. The Shadow Light
postcard announces the monthly lecture and highlights of the electronic Shadow
of a Doubt, which is available online at ncas.org/p/shadow.html. NCAS thereby
reduces Shadow production and postage costs. To further reduce
costs, members and contacts can opt out of postal notification altogether,
while continuing to receive Shadow of a Doubt via e-mail. To opt
out, send us an e-mail at ncas@ncas.org.
Time to Renew?
Be sure to check your renewal date above your postal address on the Shadow
Light postcard. Send any queries to ncas@ncas.org. Use
the online membership form to renew.
https://www.ncas.org/p/shadow.html
